Video game exploit

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In video games, an exploit is the use of a bug or glitch, or use elements of a game system in a manner not intended by the game's designers, in a way that gives a substantial unfair advantage to players using it. [1] However, whether particular acts constitute an exploit can be controversial, typically involving the argument that the issues are part of the game, and no changes or external programs are needed to take advantage of them. [2]

Contents

Controversy

Exploiting is considered cheating by most in the gaming community and gaming industry, due to the unfair advantage usually gained by the exploiter. [3] Whether an exploit is considered a cheat is a matter of widespread debate that varies between genres, games, and other factors. Most software developers of online games prohibit exploiting in their terms of service and often issue sanctions against players found to be exploiting. There is some contention by exploiters that exploiting should not be considered cheating as it is merely taking advantage of actions allowed by the software. They view exploiting as a skill because certain exploits take a significant amount of time to find, or dexterity and timing to use. Many other players believe that exploits should be considered cheats that the developers should address and exploiters should be banned.

Those who consider exploits cheating argue that they are contrary to the spirit of the game even if rules and code do not specifically prohibit them, undermining the enjoyable dynamics of it, and that they are destructive of the game's community. [4] [5] A World of Warcraft community manager described the effect of exploits on a game's community as "devastating". [5]

Defenders of exploits argue that the rules of the game allow them, and that players using exploits might not know they are behaving against the designer's intention. [3] [6] [7] So-called exploits, in this view, are not cheats because they do not change the game in any way, and all players who know of them can use them. [2] The players who use such techniques may consider them fair for use in the game if they are not explicitly disallowed in the Terms of Service or other such rules governing participation. [6] Exploiters also argue that the fastest way to get developers to update games to eliminate exploits is to use them as much as possible, as that greatly increases the quantity of complaints about them.

Griefing

While players most often use video game exploits to gain a gameplay relevant advantage for themselves, sometimes they instead use them to irritate other players, also known as griefing. [4] One team of gamers in Team Fortress 2 produced popular online videos demonstrating their griefing with several exploits present in the game, most of them being of little intended gameplay use. [8] Another famous incident during the Ultima Online beta test saw a player kill Lord British when that character was supposed to be invincible; the tester was later banned for exploiting because he did not report the bugs he found. [9]

Common types

Common types of exploits include:

Duping
Duplicating items or money.
Lag and disconnection exploits
A game with inadequate lag handling may let players intentionally cause lag for themselves to cause an advantage. [2] Similarly, a game that lets a player disconnect immediately with no consequences may let players exit a game without suffering a loss. ( Shogun 2: Total War )
Geometry
Taking advantage of how the game world is built. Typically the goal of these exploits is to reach normally inaccessible areas or take unintended shortcuts in the game world. These are commonly achieved by going through walls, crossing invisible barriers made by the programmers, or scaling ledges not intended to be climbable.
Twinking
Twinking usually refers to taking advantage of design flaws in the game's gearing system in order to equip a new or low-level character with much higher level gear. Other actions commonly referred to as "twinking" include giving a new character a large amount of gold, and intentionally keeping a character at a low level while gaining much better equipment.
Movement speed bugs
These usually allow the player to move faster than intended, such as bunny hopping. Many of these have been embraced by certain games, such as skiing in the Tribes series.
Safe zones
Places where a player can attack with no risk of being attacked back. This is often a form of an exploit in the geometry (terrain) of a game—however, a game may have areas that make players within them safe (especially in PvP games/zones in which the opposing faction(s) may not enter) from attack while not disallowing the safe players to attack.
Game mechanics
Taking advantage of the systems that make up the gameplay. A game mechanics exploit is not a bug: it is a case in which a system is working as designed, but not as intended. An example is the "wavedash" in Super Smash Bros. Melee , in which the momentum gained from using a directional aerial dodge could be retained on landing; with proper timing this allows characters to use a stationary attack while sliding across the ground.
Cheesing
Performing repeated, usually considered cheap, attack moves in such a way that doesn't allow the enemy to respond or fight back. An example would be Street Fighter II in which one can perform repeated moves that keep the enemy being attacked and against the side of the screen, with no way for them to perform a counterattack.

Each game has the potential for exploits unique to that game's rules. For example, in World of Warcraft , wall-walking allowed a player to climb steep mountains that are supposed to be impassable to get into unfinished areas or make one's character not attackable by mobs or other players. EverQuest had an exploit in player versus player analogous to weight cutting in sports whereby a player would intentionally lose levels by dying in order to compete against lower-level players while wielding higher-level items and skills. In the game City of Heroes players used teleport powers to place others inside the PvP zones' watchtowers which, because they were originally designed as props for atmosphere, had no means of egress other than teleportation.

Response

Developers may find it difficult to identify and respond to an exploit because players who discover vulnerabilities in a game may be reluctant to inform the game's developers, in order to continue exploiting. [2] However, once developers learn of exploits, the response may include banning players who took advantage of the exploit, changing the game's rules to eliminate it or make it less useful, or even embracing the exploit. Positive opinions of the exploit can lead to the designers embracing it as emergent gameplay, such as when skiing in the Tribes series of games gained developer support. The now-standard practice of rocket jumping originated in a similar way, by exploiting game mechanics in a way not foreseen by the developers. Otherwise, the developers may try to fix the underlying problem, or discourage use of the exploit if the issue cannot be clearly addressed by technical means. In severe cases, players may be banned. Further, the game state of the world may need to be reset to restore game balance. For example, following a serious currency dupe exploit in EverQuest II , the developers removed large amounts of duped money from the game to address the rampant inflation it caused in the game's virtual economy. [10]

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glitch</span> Short-lived fault in a computer system

A glitch is a short-lived fault in a system, such as a transient fault that corrects itself, making it difficult to troubleshoot. The term is particularly common in the computing and electronics industries, in circuit bending, as well as among players of video games. More generally, all types of systems including human organizations and nature experience glitches.

A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system, on different computing systems via a local area network, or via a wide area network, most commonly the Internet. Multiplayer games usually require players to share a single game system or use networking technology to play together over a greater distance; players may compete against one or more human contestants, work cooperatively with a human partner to achieve a common goal, or supervise other players' activity. Due to multiplayer games allowing players to interact with other individuals, they provide an element of social communication absent from single-player games.

Twinking is a type of behavior in role-playing games that is disapproved of by other players. A player who engages in such behavior is known as a twink. The precise definition of twinking varies depending on the variety of role-playing game:

Player versus player (PVP) is a type of multiplayer interactive conflict within a game between human players. This is often compared to player versus environment (PvE), in which the game itself controls its players' opponents. The terms are most often used in games where both activities exist, particularly MMORPGs, MUDs, and other role-playing video games, to distinguish between gamemodes. PvP can be broadly used to describe any game, or aspect of a game, where players compete against each other. PvP is often controversial when used in role-playing games. In most cases, there are vast differences in abilities between players. PvP can even encourage experienced players to immediately attack and kill inexperienced players. PvP is often referred to as player killing in the cases of games which contain, but do not focus on, such interaction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cheating in online games</span> Practice of subverting video game rules or mechanics to gain an unfair advantage

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Duping refers to the practice of using a bug in a video game to illegitimately create duplicates of unique items or currency in a persistent online game, such as an MMOG. Duping can vastly destabilize a virtual economy or even the gameplay itself, depending on the item duplicated and the rate at which duplication occurs. Modern persistent world games include automated detection of duping. Duping is usually considered to be a game cheat.

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Cheating in video games involves a video game player using various methods to create an advantage beyond normal gameplay, usually in order to make the game easier. Cheats may be activated from within the game itself, or created by third-party software or hardware. They can also be realized by exploiting software bugs; this may or may not be considered cheating based on whether the bug is considered common knowledge.

In computers, lag is delay (latency) between the action of the user (input) and the reaction of the server supporting the task, which has to be sent back to the client.

Strafing in video games is a maneuver which involves moving a controlled character or entity sideways relative to the direction it is facing. This may be done for a variety of reasons, depending on the type of game; for example, in a first-person shooter, strafing would allow one to continue tracking and firing at an opponent while moving in another direction.

This is a non-comprehensive list that includes terms used in video games and the video game industry, as well as slang used by players.

Cheating in esports is a deliberate violation of the rules of an esports governing body or other behavior that is intended to give an unfair advantage to a player or team. At its core, esports are video game competitions in an organized, competitive environment. Tournaments often pay out prize money to the highest placing teams in these events, giving players an incentive to cheat. Commonly cited instances of cheating include the use of software cheats, such as aimbots and wallhacks, exploitation of bugs, use of performance-enhancing drugs, such as Ritalin and Adderall, and match fixing.

References

  1. ↑ Mulligan, Jessica; Bridgette Patrovsky (2003). "Appendix F". Developing online games . New Riders. p.  474. ISBN   9781592730001.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Consalvo, Mia (2007). "Chapter 5". Cheating: gaining advantage in videogames . MIT Press. pp.  114–115. ISBN   9780262033657.
  3. 1 2 Macaulay, Ashton (30 August 2017). "Exploits Aren't Cheating, Are They? - Neutralizing Attitudes in the Gaming Industry". National Business Innovations LLC. NBI Analytics. Archived from the original on 6 August 2020.
  4. 1 2 Tavinor, Grant (2009). "Games Through Fiction". The Art of Videogames: New Directions in Aesthetics . John Wiley and Sons. pp.  107–108. ISBN   9781405187886.
  5. 1 2 Lopez, Miguel (20 July 2005). "WoW Duping: Fact or Fiction?". GameSpy. IGN Entertainment. Archived from the original on 23 July 2005.
  6. 1 2 Mulligan, Jessica; Bridgette Patrovsky (2003). "Chapter 13". Developing online games . New Riders. p.  286. ISBN   9781592730001.
  7. ↑ Jakobsson, Markus; Zulfikar Ramzan (2008). "Chapter 9: Virtual Worlds and Fraud". Crimeware: understanding new attacks and defenses. Addison-Wesley. p. 280. ISBN   9780321501950.
  8. ↑ Gillen, Kieron (29 April 2008). "Team Roomba". The Escapist. Archived from the original on 1 May 2008. Retrieved 11 November 2009.
  9. ↑ Lee, Edmund (23 September 1997). "Ultimate Ultima". The Village Voice. Archived from the original on 14 September 2008. Retrieved 11 November 2009.
  10. ↑ Terdiman, Daniel (11 August 2005). "Cheaters slam 'Everquest II' economy". ZDNet News. Retrieved 21 February 2007.[ permanent dead link ]
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